DURHAM - Soon, the levity will cease. Soon, there will be gnashing of helmets, arduous practices and endless days of preparation.

But Thursday at the Sheraton Imperial Hotel, the Triangle's NCAA Division I football coaches provided laughter and insight in the sixth annual Pigskin Preview, a gathering that signals football is really around the corner.

Duke's first-year coach, David Cutcliffe, was the new man on the dais this year and showed no signs of stage fright sitting with N.C. State's Tom O'Brien, North Carolina's Butch Davis and N.C. Central's Mose Rison.

In fact, the folksy Cutcliffe, who toiled 25 years in the Southeastern Conference, loosened the audience of several hundred with Southern-style humor.

When informed he had been quoted as saying Duke will fill Wallace Wade Stadium, have fun and win games, he quickly drawled: "I didn't say that."

Told his offense was reportedly structured after the New England Patriots, he replied: "We signed Tom Brady in the off-season ..." then added, "we are just trying to assemble an offense, period."

Cutcliffe, also trying to elevate a program that last had a winning season in 1994, later cracked: "I called the NCAA during spring practice and asked for five extra days -- because the first five days looked nothing like football."

While quick with the quip, Cutcliffe is not a cut-up when it comes to coaching. He is serious about changing Duke's football climate.

"People who have seen us practice, been around the program, will tell you there's a new sense of urgency and energy,'' he says. "With energy goes expectations. For us, expectation is important right now. We are not running from that. But where we are you can't predict beyond the 'hope we play well in our first game.' "

Cutcliffe might have a few tricks up his old SEC sleeve. He suggested starting quarterback Thaddeus Lewis and backup Zack Asack could play in the same backfield at times because both can run, throw and catch.

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